Apparatus for lining a tunnel



April 2s, 1970 GAHLLETAL 3,508,317

APPARATUS FOR LINING A TUNNEL Filed May 4, 1967 INVENTORS |05) GEORGE A.H/LL JOHN 7'. BOWEN BWM/# ATTORNEY United States Patent O U.S. Cl.29--208 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tunnel lining machinewhich includes a barrel ysection which is adapted to rotate in a tunnelalready bored. Within the barrel section there is a coil of a suitablestructural material. As the barrel section is rotated, the structuralmaterial is pulled off the coil, through forming dies which change theradius of curvature of the material so that it is greater than theradius of curvature of the tunnel. The windings are placed along thetunnel in a helical path so that as each winding abuts against theprevious winding, a force is developed by the reaction `between the edgeof the strip and the rotation of the barrel section to advance thebarrel section.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a method andapparatus for lining a tunnel and is particularly useful in lining atunnel which has been bored by a tunneling machine.

Most present methods of lining tunnels are expensive and represent abouthalf the cost of a finished tunnel. Heretofore, tunnels for somepurposes such as water and sewer lines have been made by digging up theground, laying a performed pipe and covering the pipe. This necessitatesthat city streets be dug up causing inconvenience and often greatexpense. Presently there are available tunneling machine which can borethrough hard rock without blasting. With this type of machine and withblasting techniques, present methods require tunnel crews to installlarge steel plate linings or use forms and then pour concrete linings.These methods of lining a tunnel can 'be slow and in areas where thereis a large in-ow of water, the amount of time it takes to line a tunnelbecornes important.

SUMMARY It is therefore the principal object of this invention toprovide a tunnel lining machine which will reduce the total cost of acompleted tunnel.

It is another object of this invention to provide apparatus for lining atunnel which is substantially automated.

In general, these objects are carried out by providing apparatus forlining a tunnel of substantially circular cross-apparatus for niilng atunnel of substantially circular cross-section which includes means forsupporting a coil of strip material. There are means for forming thestrip material so that its length has a radius of curvature greater thanthe radius of curvature of the tunnel and means for removing thematerial from the coil, passing it through the forming means and placingthe formed material within the tunnel in a substantially continuoushelical path. The method includes providing a strip of structuralmaterial, forming the material so that its length has a radius ofcurvature greater` than the radius of curvature of the tunnel andplacing the formed `strip of material withing the tunnel in asubstantially continuous helical path to form the lining.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The foregoing and other objects willbecome apparent from the following description and drawings wherein:

3,508,317 Patented Apr. 28, 1970 ICC FIG. 1 is a perspective view of atunnel lining machine in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the lines 2 2 of FIG. l and lookingin the direction of the arrows;

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. l and 2, thenumeral designates a tunnel which has already been bored by a suitabletunneling machine or any conventional apparatus which may, if desired,ybe operating at the same time as the present invention in advance ofthe tunnel liner. A complete lining is generally indicated by thenumeral 2. The lining 2 is formed of a continuous helical path of astrip material. The strip material 3 may be any structural material suchas a suitable thickness steel. The strip material 3 may be supplied tothe tunnel liner in the form of a coil generally indicated at 4. A sparecoil 5 Imay be mounted on the machine by means of a support pin 25.

The tunnel lining machine of this invention is generally indicated at 10and includes a barrel section 11 which is closed at the forward end by acover plate 12 and open at the rear end. The barrel section is providedwith an internal gear section indicated at 13. A plurality of rollerbearings 14 are mounted on Ibearing supports 15 around the outside ofthe lbarrel section. These roller bearings bear against the alreadyformed tunnel lining 2 and allow the barrel section to freely rotatewithin the tunnel in proper spacial relation to the tunnel wall.

The rear of the tunnel liner 10 includes a support or advancing section20. The `support section has been indicated as a heavy tubular sectionwhich is provided with at least one leveling jack or anchoring cylinder21. Each leveling cylinder 21 has a hydraulically actuated piston 22slidingly mounted therein. Piston rods 23 are connected to the pistons22 and supporting feet or anchoring pads 24 are connected to the outsideend of the rods 23. Suitable hydraulic piping (not shown) is used toraise and lower the pistons 22 and thus the pads 24. The pads 24 anchorthe support section 20 in place against rotative and longitudinalmovement and level the support section 20 relative to the barrel section11 and, in turn, level the entire machine. A coil support pin 25 extendsthrough the advancing section 20, the barrel -section 11, and is securedto the cover plate 12. The coil 4 is rotatively lmounted on this pinadjacent the end cover 12 and at the rear of the machine, the spare coil5 is'slidably mounted on the pin 25. A removable support 26 is providedat the rear of pin 25.

A plurality of motors 30 are secured to the forward end of the supportsection 20. The motors may be any suitable type such as electric orfluid pressure driven. These motors have a drive shaft 31 with spurgears 32 mounted thereon. The spur gears include teeth 33 which engagethe teeth on the gear section 13 of the barrel section 11. When themotors are operating and the spur gears 32 rotate, the barrel section 11rotates about the suport section 20 similar to a ring gear in aplanetary gear system when the planet gears are fixed.

Forming pins indicated at 40, 41 and 42 are secured to the cover plate12 within the barrel section. The strip material is threaded through theforming pins 40, 41 and 42. The end plate 12 is also provided with guidepins 43 and 44 and the side of the barrel section 11 is provided with aguide slot `45. If desired, other forming means may be used. As thebarrel section 11 is rotated, the material 3 is peeled olf the coil 4through the forming pins 40, 41 and 42 and guide pins 43 and 44 to beformed so that the length of the material has a radius of curvaturegreater than the radius of curvature of the tunnel. With this new radiusof curvature, the material is fed through the guide slot 45 and isautomatically placed against the inside of the tunnel.

Since the strip material 3 has a radius of curvature greater than theradius of curvature of the tunnel, the lining will act like aninternally wound spring with a net radial outward force due to theforming of the strip material. Due to the outwardly directed force ofthe material, the strip material will remain in place and help hold backthe rock formation and provide a secure tunnel.

The windings are placed against the tunnel wall so that as the lining isformed, the strip 3 is in a continuous helical path. As the motors 30operate and the spur gears rotate and engage the gear section 13, thebarrel section 11 is rotated and the strip material is peeled oit, onewinding of strip material is completed around Vthe completecircumference of the tunnel and the second winding is begun. Since thewindings are at an angle, the edge of the second winding will abutagainst the edge of the lirst winding. Since the barrel section isrotating and the windings are abutting against each other, a reactionforce will be developed which advances the barrel section 11 through thetunnel. The support section is anchored so that the barrel section 11moves relative to the support section 20. The barrel section 11 isadvanced until the spur gears 32 are almost to the rear edge of the gearsection 13. At this point, the motors 30 should be stopped so that thebarrel section 11 stops rotating. The support section 20 is thenadvanced so that the spur gears 32 are moved to the forward end of thegear section 13.

The means for advancing the support section 20 includes an advancingplate generally indicated at 50 which is secured to the inside of thebarrel section by a bearing 51. The bearing 51 permits relative rotativemovement between the barrel section 11 and the plate 50 but preventsrelative longitudinal movement between them. Advancing cylinders 53 aresecured to the support section 20. There are advance pistons slidablymounted within the cylinders 53 and connected to plate 50. Thiscylinder-piston arrangement is fluid pressure actuated. Fluid underpressure is supplied to one side or the other of the piston 54 bysuitable piping (not shown) to pull the support section 20 towards thebarrel section 11 or push the barrel section away from the supportsection. When the barrel section 11 has advanced relative to the supportsection as far as is practical, the jacks or leveling pads 24 arereleased to permit the support section to be advanced. In someapplications it may be desirable to use a retractable roller on thebottom pad 24 to permit the support section and motor means to beadvanced more easily. Fluid under pressure is applied to the cylinders53 and the pistons 54 are retracted. Since the windings abut againsteach other, the barrel section cannot move backward. This produces areaction force which allows the support section to be pulled forwardinto the barrel section and the spur gears 32 are moved to the forwardend of the gear section 13. The pads 24 are set, anchoring the supportsection 20 and the tunnel liner is now ready to begin operation again.The cylinders 53 may be vented so that as the barrel section is rotated,it will be free to advance relative to the support section 20. Ifdesired, the barrel sections advance may be aided by applying pressureto the cylinders 53 to push the pistons 54 outward. Since the supportsection 20y is anchored, the barrel section 11 will be pushed forward.

When the coil 4 has run out, the machine is stopped. The spare coil 5 isthen slid up the pin 25 to replace the coil 3. The material is threadedthrough the forming pins 40, 41 and 42 and welded or otherwise securedto the end of the strip 3 which is already a part of the lining.Operation of the machine can then begin again,

In a tunnel it often occurs that the rock has faults which allow theseepage of water and falling of the rock. In these locations, it may bedesirable to Weld each winding together. For this purpose a welding headhas been provided and is shown schematically at 35. The welding head isplaced on the outside of the `barrel section so that as a winding isformed, it is welded to the adjacent winding. This increases thestrength of the complete liner and prevents leakage through the seams inthe liner. Where the rock is particularly Weak, it may be desirable toadd supporting braces within the completed liner. In normal practice,however, these additional steps are not considered to be essential.Where the tunnel'is in an area of water in-flow, it may be desirable toprovide a pressure seal around the barrel section to prevent leakageinto the lined portion of the tunnel.

MODIFICATIONS FIGS. 3 and 4 show one possible modification of thepresent invention. With this modification, the barrel section isindicated at 111 and the support section at 120. These features areessentially the same as in the preferred embodiment indicated in FIG. 1.In this modification, however, the single coil of material has beenreplaced by four coils indicated at 104, 105, 106 and 107 to providefour strips of material 100, 101, 102 and 103 which move through guideslots 145, 146, 147 and 148, respectively. The material is formed byeither the guide slots or some other suitable means so that it has aradius of curvature greater than the radius of curvature of the tunnel.If more than one coil is used, the pitch at which the strip material isapplied to the tunnel must be increased. The increased pitch allows thebarrel section to advance a distance equal to the Width of the stripmaterial times the number of coils for each revolution of the barrelsection.

By using this modication, the section can be used to remove muck andcuttings from the tunnel boring machine which may be operating inadvance of the tunnel liner.

A second modification is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. In this modification,the barrel section is indicated at 211 with the tunnel lining alreadylaid indicated at 202. The barrel section rotates on an axis 246. Thereis a single coil of material 204 which is offset from the center of therotation 246. This coil allows the strip of material 203 to pass througha plurality of corrugation rollers. These corrugation rollers include aplurality of rollers 207 mounted on an axle 209 and rollers mounted on210. These corrugation rollers form ribs 205 and troughs 206 before thestrip material 203 passes through the guide slot 245. The use ofcorrugations in the material increases the strentgh qualities of thetunnel lining and allows the use of a thinner gage material. Thecorrugation rollers also serve to form the strip material to the properradius of curvature. Although the use of corrugation rollers has beenshown with the coil of material offset from the center of the barrelsection, it is equally well adapted for use with the embodiment of FIG.l.

Although but three embodiments has been shown, it is intended that theforegoing be merely a description of preferred embodiments. It isintended that the invention be limited by only that which is Within thescope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for lining a tunnel which is substantially cylindrical incross-section comprising:

means for supporting a supply of strip material;

means for forming said strip material so that its length has a radius ofcurvature greater than the radius of curvature of the tunnel; and

means for removing said material from said supply,

passing it through said forming means and placing the formed materialagainst the tunnel wall While at the newly formed radius of curvature ina substantially continuous helical path.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said removing,

passing and placing means includes a barrel section and means forrotating said barrel section.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said supply is a coil is supportedwithin the barrel section and the barrel section is provided with anopening for the passage of said material therethrough; said barrelsection being provided with means for allowing it to rotate freelywithin said tunnel.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said barrel section includes a gearsection and said means for rotating said barrel section includes motormeans having gears adapted to be rotated by said motor means forengagement with said gear section to rotate said barrel section.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 further including means for selectivelyadvancing said motor means relative to said barrel section and means forleveling said apparatus.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 including a support section for supportingsaid motor means and leveling means and positioned at least partiallywithin said barrel section; said leveling means including at least onejack for selectively engaging the tunnel lining already placed withinsaid tunnel to prevent movement of said support section when said jackengages the tunnel lining.

7. The apparatus of claim 5 further including means for corrugatng saidstrip material before it is placed in said tunnel.

8. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein there are a plurality of coils ofmaterial and material is removed from all of said coils at the sametime.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,331,504 10/ 1943 Raymond 29-4462,600,630 6/1952 Fergusson 29-446 2,631,015 3/1953 Probstl 29-47732,862,469 12/1958 Jensen 72-145 2,996,085 8/1961 Matheny 61-S4 3,092,056 6/ 1963 Ohnstad 72-143 3,217,402 11/1965 Eckhardt 29477.33,309,003 11/1965 Crawford 73--142 3,380,147 4/1968 McDonald 29-477.33,393,546 7/1968 Fay 72-143 3,401,442 9/ 1968 Matheny 29-208 THOMAS H.EAGER, Primary Examiner ULS. c1. X.R. .2s- 477.3

